5th February 2017

Back in France after a whirlwind tour of all the 'scenic routes' of Birmingham. I know, I know...but so much has changed in 12 years. There were the familiar Burlington and Piccadilly arcades; turn a corner and Mars has landed. And don't even mention the University I worked at for 30 years. What's happened to the old Gun Barrels Pub on the corner? Now a sports centre it seems.
So, what's happened whilst I've been away? A terrorist attack by a machete-wielding Egyptian in the Louvre, and PenelopeGate in French politics. Seems the Conservative frontrunner, Fillon, has been paying his wife and family loads of government money. Still prefer him, though, to the alternative...And that man over the pond is still grabbing all the headlines. Despite Theresa May's charm offensive (she's the charm, he's the offensive!), to the rest of the world he clearly didn't go to presidential school nor to diplomacy college, preferring to use the old streetcred tactics he learnt on the backstreets of downtown Bronx. I picture him as the worst kind of nightclub bouncer: no, this is my place and if I say you can't come in, you can't come in. Has much changed, then, in the week I've been away? No. The world's still just as mad as ever.